It is a remarkable reversal of fortunes for a man who, just 45 days ago, was the hottest property in football – a hero to Tottenham fans and seemingly a shoo-in to succeed Fabio Capello in the England job.

The final dispute was just the latest in a long line of disagreements between Redknapp and Levy, whose relationship was put under immense strain following Tottenham’s end-of-season collapse, which coincided with Redknapp being in for the England job.

Redknapp feared the worst after Spurs missed out on a Champions League place, and it quickly became clear Levy would not offer him a new contract and, at best, would allow him to go into the final year of his contract.

But another blow came when the manager wanted to start making plans for next season to find Spurs were nervous about releasing funds for targets amid uncertainty over the manager’s future.

Redknapp is a target for a Middle East consortium who are lining up a job in Qatar, but it may be that he takes a break after a stressful year which saw him miss out to Roy Hodgson for the England gig, win a high-profile tax case in court and undergo a heart operation.